16,000 runners descended on London’s beautiful Royal Parks today (Sunday 12th October) for the 18th annual Royal Parks Half Marathon.
Widely regarded as one of the UK’s most scenic half marathons, participants ran 13.1 miles through four of London’s eight Royal Parks, including Hyde Park, The Green Park, St. James’s Park and Kensington Gardens, while also passing some of London’s most recognised landmarks, including Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square and the Houses of Parliament.
This year’s event marked a major milestone for the Royal Parks Half Marathon, with the ballot achieving the highest number of entrants in the event’s history – a record-breaking 35% increase compared to 2024, which itself had set the previous record.
Since its launch in 2008, the Royal Parks Half Marathon has now raised over £79 million for more than 1,200 UK charities, including a record breaking £7.3 million raised this year so far on JustGiving.
A host of famous faces joined the thousands of runners on the course this year, including presenter Jenni Falconer, former England men’s Football captain John Terry, TV personality Jake Quickenden, Traitors star Minah Shannon, and actors Adam Woodyatt and Stephen Mangan.
The Royal Parks Half Marathon continues to remain committed to making the event as sustainable as possible, priding itself on being one of the UK’s most eco-friendly major half marathons. This year, 24% of participants chose to opt out of receiving a finisher’s T-shirt and instead contributed to planting snowdrops and native bulbs along the 13.1-mile route, while race-organisers also ran a separate ballot for participants who reside outside the UK in a bid to limit the effects of air travel emissions.
The race’s other sustainability initiatives included FSC Certified wooden medals, an unwanted running shoe donation point via JogOn and digital only race comms. The course was also free from plastic bottles, with the route equipped with water refill points and compostable cups for runners instead.
Royal Parks Half Marathon’s event village was bustling with racegoers and spectators enjoying natural nut-butter snacks and premium alcohol-free beer from returning partners, Pip & Nut and Kingfisher Zero. Royal Parks Half finishers will also have the chance to try Pip & Nut’s new protein bars and natural energy drink TENZING. Pact Coffee supplied the pre-race and post-race caffeine hits whilst long-term partner, Sweaty Betty, also returned and introduced a new retail space. A new addition to this year’s event village saw Virgin Active, announced as Official Training Partner earlier this year, bringing Reformer Pilates to the park.
Commenting on today’s race, Head of Royal Parks Half Marathon Liz Tack, said:
“We’re incredibly proud of the Royal Parks Half Marathon and always strive to make each year better than the last.
“2025 marks a milestone in our history, with a new route that makes our event even more memorable for our runners and supporters. To see record-breaking fundraising and demand for places this year has been phenomenal – it shows just how much our event means to people, not only as a celebration of London’s iconic landmarks and green spaces, but as a way for people to come together, challenge themselves and raise vital funds for charity.
“Congratulations to everyone that took part in today’s race and a huge thank you to the hundreds of charities and volunteers who helped to make it a success!”
